Thursday, January 17, 2008

Family Ties

We got Jean's TIYL report from Granny Bin yesterday and it is filled with new information. Here are a few highlights along with some pictures of his father, his big brother and his fathers house. AMAZING!!
-Jean's birth name: He was given the name Shelo Rainvilus by his mother at birth. She changed his name to Jean Delson Chery when he was given for adoption.
-He was born at home by a mid-husband named Pira, who is now deceased.
-Mothers info: Djelicia Vertilus was born in 1977. She did have some schooling and can read and write a little. She has 4 children with Jean's father.
-Father's info: Caristil Rainvilus was born in 1953(pictured below in orange). He is paralyzed on his left side which hinders his ability to work and that is why they had no money to raise little Jean Delson. He still resides in a very small "house"(see pictures below) in Bonga where Jean was born. He has 5 children(one is Jean's half brother pictured below -he is wearing a green shirt).
-Jean comes from good genes. In Haiti the average age to live is around 47 years old. His paternal Grandma lived to be 102 and had 13 children!AMAZING.
-Siblings - Half-brother (22 years) Rony, brothers Fransnel (14) and Bendi(unknown age- is adopted out), Sister Judith (10 years).

As you can see we learned A LOT. Granny Bin reminds us in her closing that the end is just the beginning...here is to new beginnings! ~Melissa




2 comments:

Cara said...

That is an amazing story. How are you holding up with all the commotion over on the board??

Melissa said...

It has been a very hard few days. It is so much to try to take in and I struggle with how to react.I have tried to hold back my feelings, because I do not want to feed the negativity. I am choosing to leave everything in God's hands, he is the only one in control over the situation anyhow.
How have you been doing?
~Melissa